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When ATI and Nvidia battle it out there always seems to be one card which is clearly the leader. While picking a video card is not tough if you have an unlimited budget, it gets much more confusing when you are looking for a mid-range card. This is a dilemma in which many consumers find themselves every few years. While ATI’s offerings last generation (the X600 and X700, among others) were clearly lacking in comparision to the 6600 GT, this time around things could be different.

ATI’s X1K line was not the definitive blow which they intended to strike against Nvidia after last year’s collapse, but it has been made clear that these cards are worth looking at. This review is going to be examining the HIS X1600 XT IceQ Turbo which features ATI’s RV530 GPU. On paper it looks like a very solid midrange card, especially compared to what else is out there in its price category: the aging 6600 GT, a few lower-end 6800s, and ATI’s X800 GTOs, to name a few.

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This card arrived in basically the same box that is used for all of HIS’ IceQ video cards. These video cards come with an Arctic Cooling GPU cooler and the higher-end ones, the Turbos, feature guaranteed overclocking up to a set point. The card arrived with a generous bundle: two VGA/DVI converters, the full version of Flat Out, a drivers CD, the Iturbo overclocking program, a S-Video Cable, a conversion Cable Mini-Din to RCA, and a HDTV output cable.

Looking at the X1600 XT IceQ Turbo it is clear that it is basically the same design as HIS’ other IceQ cards. In case you are not familiar with them, note the red PCB and the large GPU/memory cooler (made by Arctic Cooling) which takes up two expansion slots. What this card has which is new and exciting is dual DVI outputs.

That is a lot of information to take in, but what is important is that the video card is built on the RV530, which features a new 90nm process. The core clock is 587.25MHz and the memory clock is 693MHz (1386MHz effective). It has twelve pixel pipelines and 256MB of GDDR3 memory. This PCI Express video card is compatible with ATI’s Crossfire dual video card solution and uses ATI’s Avivo for multimedia. With Iturbo turned on, the card will clock itself up to 600/1400 and is guaranteed to work at this level.

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One of the best parts of HIS’s IceQ series is that they very quiet. The large fan does not have to move quickly to provide sufficient cooling to the GPU and memory, plus it is aided by rather large heatsinks. This fan is adjustable through the Iturbo software and can be turned very low for silent operation or turned up to 100% for overclocking (or anywhere in between).

In addition to the fan the video card’s components are cooled by RAM sinks. They are only placed on the RAM chips which are on the bottom of the card when it is installed because this is where heat tends to get trapped, especially with the fan cowl blocking airflow. Behind the sinks you can seen the large aluminum block which is placed over the GPU.

Dual DVI video cards have been a long time coming, and finally they have trickled down to the mid-range. With fewer people using CRT or analog LCDs every day this makes sense and it is a trend that will continue. Even so, HIS does include two DIV/VGA converters in case you are holding on to an older display.

Shown above is the included accessories kit.

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Installing the X1600 XT IceQ Turbo was a simple procedure though it did require removing the cover on the expansion slot below the video card and installing a vented cover (included) there. The video card and cooler are designed to take up two full expansion slots but the cooler practically spills over into a third. Chances are this will not be a problem but because this card is Crossfire compatible it is something to look out for. No auxiliary power connections are needed.

Once the card was in place and the drivers were installed it was run through a series of tests. On paper it is not very clear how this card will stack up against the competition. It should have a performance benefits over cards like the X800 GTO (12 pipeline version) and the 6600 GT but these middle-of-the-road cards are very tough to judge and some are better than others at certain applications.

The first test conducted features synthetic benchmarks. These are useful for understanding the relative capabilities of a video card. Upon receiving the test results we can see that the X1600 was the performance leader, but not by much. The X800 GTO (12 pixel pipelines, core/memory speed of 500/1000, and a 256-bit memory interface [the X1600 has 128-bit]) was a bit behind the X1600, which seems only do be due to the increased clock speeds of the X1600.

Then next stage of the testing was done using the frame rates measured from game play. This is a more accurate indicator of real-life performance of a card, though it is rarely as clear cut as other ways of testing. Here the X1600 did well, its updated GPU and improved clock speeds were able to shine through, especially on the newest game in the test, Call of Duty 2, for which used a particularly difficult benchmark. While the X1600 XT was able to outshine the X800 GTO and the 6600 GT the performance difference is not huge and the X1600 XT is has not been able to pull off the performance coup which many gamers wanted. This lack of difference is partially due to the strange timing of the release of the X800 GTO which was just a few months ago, in between major releases.

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Gaming at 1600×1200 is the level which everyone has been shooting for lately. Though it is still out of reach of many cards and most LCD displays (19″ and below) but it is something to look forward to and a focus of most high-end cards and dual video card solutions. At 1600×1200 the X1600 XT was able to to handle portions of games like Half Life 2 and Halo without issue though it did hit the occassional snag. COD2 and Doom 3 proved to be a bit tougher and dips in frame rate were more frequent. All told this card can handle some 1600×1200 gaming but if this is something which is a priority you should look into the X1800/X1900s or look into Crossfire/SLI.

To test the overclocking which this card can handle it was run with 3dMark05. After each completed test the frequencies were ramped up, until it would not run. This is a fairly intensive program so the maximum overclock here would indicate solid stability. From the stock speeds (587/1386) a maximum overclock was reach at 624/1466. It could have gone further, but given the intensity of the 3dMark program the card was crashing with speeds past these. This meant the card was capable of just about a 6% overclock and realized a 5.8% increase in the 3dMark05 score. When running last intense applications it was able to be pushed to 645/1550 before failure, which is much more respectable.

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Conclusion

After it was all said and done the HIS X1600 XT IceQ Turbo ended up with an acceptable showing. Its performance was not extremely impressive but it shows signs of improvement over the last generation and makes ATI outlook for the immediate future look somewhat promising. HIS was able to put a nice twist on this card- a great cooler, a software bundle (however paltry it may be), and a palatable price.

This product does have issues though. Most importantly, the performance capabilities of the X1600 XT are simply not that much better than Nvidia’s card in this range which were available well over a year ago. Yes, it is a step up from the X700 Pro, but that is not really saying much at this point. There is not much HIS can do about this.

As for things within HIS’ control- the bundle should be updated with a newer game than Flatout and I have to take issue with their Iturbo label. The Iturbo distinction means that this card is guaranteed to work when overclocked, but the level of overclocking which Iturbo indicates bumps up the core/memory speeds just 13/9 MHz respectively. This is practically meaningless and such a small about will have no impact on performance. The upside is that the card includes the Iturbo application which can overclock the card much more (theoretically to a max of 650/1646). The Iturbo also includes the HIS OSD Server which puts an on-screen display overlay over games and shows the video card temperature, fan speed, and more information while you are gaming.

Bullseye (+)– Very good cooling– A solid mid-range card

Misfire (-)– Performance is not as good as it should be– Iturbo needs work